Siegel gets Detroit redemption as he takes his first Indy Nxt win

Photo: Penske Entertainment / Joe Skibinski

Nolan Siegel survived two pace car restarts to take his maiden Indy Nxt win in the second race on the streets of Detroit. 

The HMD Motorsports driver missed out winning Saturday’s race after a driveshaft failure cost him the lead with two corners remaining before the chequered flag.

This time there would be no such mechanical issue, but he did have to manage a pace car restart with two laps left to go.

Siegel didn’t put a wheel wrong throughout the race. He jumped into the lead on the opening lap after poleman Louis Foster and Christian Rasmussen ran wide at turn one while fighting side-by-side. 

The battle between Rasmussen and Foster continued, with slight contact as Rasmussen found his way past Foster, and the pair fell away from Siegel. 

It wouldn’t be long until Rasmussen closed back onto the tail of his title rival, however, with Foster and Hunter McElrea not far behind.  

Siegel offered no opportunity for Rasmussen to overtake before the race was nutralised after Jagger Jones hit the wall at Turn 2. 

Rasmussen got alongside Siegel on the restart, but Siegel held onto the position. Rasmussen wasn’t able to stay with the race leader and fell back as Siegel gradually extended his lead. 

Siegel had a gap of almost two seconds when the pace car was brought out again late in the race. This time Kyffin Simpson – who was multiple laps down after an earlier incident and a stop-go penalty – had hit the wall at Turn 9. 

Racing resumed with two laps remaining. Siegel perfected the restart and took victory by 0.6559s, putting him just two points behind championship leader Rasmussen. 

Foster held off McElrea to take third while Danial Frost picked up fifth place. 

Colin Kaminsky had spent much of the race in fifth, but was looking to move up to fourth on the final restart. He got alongside McElrea but ran wide and dropped backwards.

James Roe Jr finished sixth, not only benefitting from Kaminsky’s mistake, but also gaining from a mistake by Enaam Ahmed and Jacob Abel shortly before the second caution period. Ahmed had spent a long time trying to find a way past Abel and had made contact with him earlier in the race. This time both were sent wide, allowing Roe and Ernie Francis Jr through.  

Francis also had an eventful race, having damaged his front wing on lap one. He tried to survive with the damage but was forced to pit for a replacement wing. He came into the pits just before the first caution period, which meant he remained on the lead lap and allowed him to charge up through the order when racing resumed. 

Kaminsky took the chequered flag eighth ahead of Abel and Ahmed. 

Race result (45 laps)